Ipswich secures Safer Streets Funding to combat and prevent crime

More good news for Ipswich - and this would not have happened with a Tory Council - it happened as we have great Officers and staff at Ipswich Borough Council and that in conjunction with good political leadership from Ipswich Labour, has allowed us to bid for more Government funding.

The final piece of the jigsaw, is working with partners and we had great support in securing the money from Ipswich Central, the Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner, Tim Passmore and Ipswich Police. Our bid also had the backing of the County Council plus our neighboring districts.  

Ipswich secures Safer Streets Funding to combat and prevent crime

 

Ipswich Borough Council is pleased it will be becoming an even safer town, with new improvements to be made in respect of the safety of women and girls and a reduction in anti-social behaviour, such as violence, theft and criminal damage.

 

£500,000 has been awarded to Ipswich Borough Council from the Home Office’s latest round of Safer Streets Fund. The Council with its partners Suffolk Constabulary, Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner, Ipswich Central and Suffolk County Council are also supplying a matched contribution of officer time and funding totalling £432,000 leading to a combined total project of £932,000.

 

These improvements will be in the town centre and Waterfront areas, including the main retail, hospitality and business districts as well as at the university area. Our consultations identified these locations as where members of the public and community groups wanted improvements. The focus will be on countering Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) with initiatives will target crime related to sexual assault and harassment and ASB including violence, criminal damage and theft.

 

The remedies will include smarter CCTV with improved monitoring that will lead to swifter responses but also greater coverage for the cameras. Along with better signage, lighting and landscaping these will act to deter crime and give people more confidence when traversing the town, particularly at night.

 

Safe spaces/hubs with help points will be created and the ‘Ask for Angela’ campaign will be enhanced to include all town centre licenced premises and publicly accessible buildings, including libraries, retail & food outlets. Barwatch is a scheme that helps pubs and bars share information about the perpetrators about anti-social behaviour and this will be enhanced.

 

There will be better lighting in the subway at St Matthew’s Street. Townlink radio coverage, used by retailers and others to keep in touch with the police and security, will receive new radios for new premises. Personal Safety Alarms will be given out and Body-Worn cameras for door supervisors will be distributed.

 

Cllr Alasdair Ross, Ipswich Borough Council Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, says:

 

“This winning bid by your Council will mean we can make many improvements in Ipswich that will make people feel more confident, particularly at night, in some of our central areas. We have overseen many improvements to make Ipswich  safer but we can always do more and these new anti-crime measures will make Ipswich better for all – except criminals.

 

Tim Passmore, Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk, says:

 

"I am absolutely delighted to hear we have been successful in our bid for Safer Street 4 funding.

 

"It's really important that people feel safe in their homes, businesses and their communities, so I am pleased to see this investment in our county town, which will help reduce crime and the fear of crime.

Ipswich Tory MP - 'Twisting the facts?'

Somehow, I have ended up on the Tory MP for Ipswich, Tom Hun's mailing list - and in my inbox today arrived his latest effort.

Talk of the football, no mention this time of his criticism of players 'taking the knee'. Other pieces are on worthwhile visits to schools, YMCA and Felixstowe Docks, then I got to a piece about a recent visit by Mr Hunt and the Tory Police and Crime Commissioner to Maple Park in Ipswich.

It seems either Mt Hunt was not aware of the facts of the recent successful bid for Home Office funding or he was deliberately 'twisting' the facts. so he would not have to give Ipswich Labour run Ipswich Borough Council any credit for the work they did.

Mr Hunt, stated that " Recently Tim (the Tory PCC) led a bid alongside the Borough Council to secure money from Government (and was successful in securing £4000,000) to invest in the area to fund more work to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour problems."

I would have thought Mr Hunt was aware that is not what happened. Mr Passmore, the Police and the Borough Council put in a bid for Home Office funding, but were unsuccessful. The Home Office then  asked would we like to bid again (we were given very little time to bid). Mr Passmore decided that he would not bid this time but was happy to support any Local Authority that did. Only Ipswich Borough Council put a bid in, our Officers did most of the work with significant input from Ipswich Police.  Mr Passmore supported our application. The other (Tory run) Local Authorities did not bid.

So no way is Mr Hunt correct in saying that Mr Passmore Led the bid alongside the Borough Council!! All the leadership on this successful bid was from Ipswich Borough Council - from our Labour Laeder, David Ellesmere, myself as Portfolio Holder and from our Officers with much needed valuable support from the then Head of Policing in Ipswich, Kerry Cutler.

I have to believe in this case Mr Hunt is deliberately twisting the facts to suit his own agenda.

Was pleased to see that Mr Hunt believes the work the Borough is doing in the area is working, but again he seems to imply that much of the work that is being done is because he asked us. Where in fact the council and in particular the three Labour Westgate councillors have been working hard to improve the area with the local community for a number of years.

Mr Hunt may be just saying he was expressing his own views but I for one am not sure an MP  stating that Maple Park was the most sinister arear in the town that he visited helps anyione, in particular those who call the area their home.

My week ahead, 2 - 7 November 2015

Monday 2 November, 4pm – Culture Portfolio meeting

6pm – North East Ipswich Parks meeting

7pm - Labour Executive meeting

Friday 6 November, 7pm – ‘Beryl’  at the New Wolsey

Saturday 7 November, 10am – Labour campaigning in South West Ipswich

Over the last few weeks we have been speaking to our hundreds of new members, to ask them why they joined. We also wanted to know what they wish us to campaign on as a local Labour Party.

I have spoken to over 50 of those new members and will speak to a number more at our Labour Fair this morning – it is obvious these new members will bring a much needed boost to the party but what was also noticeable that most of their concerns were the same and also concerns that current Labour members and councillors already held.

It might surprise the Tories and Mr Gummer, no one mentioned London in ‘60’ for our trains, or even turning the town centre round. Their main concerns were;

1.         The NHS – They fear even more privatisation

2.         Refugee crisis , most were embarrassed by the poor and weak response to the crisis                               shown by Cameron and the Tory Government

3.         Education – Not only the forced academisation by the Tories but the complete dismantling of the further education provision in the UK.

The further education question is one that the Labour Party should have raised

earlier, the members I spoke to were not on about universities but about adult learning – the Suffolk New College used to run a number of evening courses as did other educational establishments- from interests subjects such as languages, art, local history to a course that may help you find a new job such as improving your computer skills.

As I was about to leave the army I undertook a number of computer courses at a low charge at a local education centre in Nottingham, try now to find such a facility.

It is now wonder that Ben Gummer and the local Tories want to concentrate on trains and shops – I also this week have been in conversation with a number of Rushmere residents, many of whom are members of Neighbourhood Watch Schemes. All of them are very concerned about the cuts to the local police force. Our Tory Crime and Commissioner has been asked directly about police involvement with our Area Committees and elected representatives, at first we got no response but after asking again we were told it was up to the Chief Constable not the PCC- ducking the question?

The PCC, Mr Passmore is up for election in May, I hope residents question him about proposed cuts, his fellow Tory PCC in Essex has stated that local ‘bobbies’ on the beat is a luxury that now can no longer be afforded!

Did not read that in any Tory leaflet at the General Election – remember when the Tories once described themselves as the party of ‘Law and Order’?

Then again George Osborne has now re-branded them as the ‘Workers Party’ maybe better just to keep to a simpler description that we can all agree with – The Tory Party – the ‘Selfish Party’.

My week ahead, 17 - 23 March 2014

Monday – 17 March, 6pm Labour Group

Tuesday – 18 March, 5pm Sidegate Primary School Finance meeting
6pm East Area Housing Panel

Wednesday – 19 March, 6pm Ipswich Borough Council – Full Council meeting, Town Hall

Saturday 22 March, 10am – Labour campaigning – South East Ipswich

This week we have seen Mr Gummer our MP visit the Suffolk Police Control room – expect to see in the paper soon ‘Suffolk Police Control room saved after Tory PCC is lobbied by Tory MP Gummer’ – similar to ‘Bishop Hill lights will not now happen after Tory cabinet member is lobbied by Tory MP Gummer’

Now I am sure that lobbying by Ben Gummer and Tory Cllrs did help persuade Graham Newman to shelve the plan to put traffic lights on Bishops Hill but I have no doubt from meetings held with Mr Newman that he still thinks lights should be placed on the approach from Felixstowe Rd, but has been persuaded to halt the work as it is seen as a vote loser in the marginal ward of Holywells.

The Police Control room issue is slightly different as the Tory PCC seems to have decided himself that it is political suicide to close the control room, do not be fooled by the story about the ‘business case does not stack up’ – when he spoke to the IBC Scrutiny meeting last month he made it quite clear that the control room would probably close with other back office jobs coming to Suffolk in return. You would have thought when he spoke to Scrutiny he would have already known of the business case and details of the closure, weeks late he was happy to send every house in Suffolk a letter detailing the savings he has already made and the savings of close to £6 million he will be making in the future – was the closing of the control room in his savings – or has he no idea of where the savings will be made?

In reading that letter you would get the impression that he is in full control of the budget and has a full understanding of the business plan, but now we seem to get the impression (from Mr Passmore) that he had no prior visibility of the business plan.

I am sure Mr Passmore was surprised by the large attendance of staff and union members at the meeting held to rubber stamp the merger of control rooms with Norfolk, he would not have felt comfortable with the presence of two Labour PPCs in the room and I am sure he would have been slightly surprised by the anger shown by those who were likely to lose their job. But I believe his main reason for the sudden change in plan was when the local paper the EADT, announced they were against the plan.

What had been noticeable up to his announcement of his ‘change of mind’ was the total silence of the seven Suffolk Tory MPs – and even after the sudden change of plan, only Mr Gummer has commented on the issue- possibly due to small majority he holds in Ipswich.

Suffolk MPs do seem loathe to comment on any cuts being imposed by the Tory run County Council or the Tory PCC, maybe they know that the Tory Cllrs would not be happy to be lectured to by MPs when they are just carrying out Tory policies!

So do not expect to hear Mr Gummer making too much of a fuss over the closure of the Felixstowe Rd Children’s Centre, just expect him to repeat the County Council line of ‘services will be maintained but at other locations’ – the question is what locations?

My week ahead, 9 - 15 March 2014

Monday – 10 March , 6pm Labour campaigning

Thursday – 13 March, 6pm – Ipswich Borough Scrutiny meeting

Saturday 15 March, 10am – Labour campaigning – South East Ipswich

Not a great week for Tories in Suffolk, but we are unable to gloat as it has been an even worse week for all Suffolk residents because of the local Tories.

First of all we had the damming report on the Tory run Suffolk County Council School Improvement team, more concerning for me was the refusal of those meant to leading the County Council to see that things need to change. We were almost deafened by the silence of the counties Tory MPs. I suppose I should be thankful that the Tory MP for Ipswich, Ben Gummer did criticise the County but there were very few words from him and he was certainly not ‘extensively quoted’ as he made out on twitter.

Something has to be done and done quick but that seems unlikely with the current Tory cabinet, so it is good to see that Labour have called for a vote of ‘no confidence’ in the Tory Cabinet member responsible for education. Will be interesting to see if all Tory councillors vote with their own group, in particular those from the west of the county who seem to be in open mutiny on the direction the Tories are leading the county on education.

Then we had the Tory Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk deciding not to go ahead with the merger of the Suffolk and Norfolk Police control rooms, now at least one Tory blogger is trying to spin this as an attempt to show that Mr Passmore has the interests of Suffolk as his main concern when deciding on budgets but those of us who heard Mr Passmore speak at Scrutiny will know that is far from the truth as it from what the Tory PCC said at that meeting the merger was a ‘done deal’. It also seems that is what the Norfolk PCC and both Chief Constables thought.

Yesterday, I received my council tax demand and in his spiel, Mr Passmore mentions savings of £2.3 million in 14/15 rising to £6.1 million in 17/18 – was that written before his U – turn on the police control room merger?

Wonder where the savings will come from now?

There was one other bit of bad news for the Ipswich Tories that did bring a smile Ipswich Labour faces, the Tories decided to change their group leadership, but it seemed not all the Tory councillors were happy with the changes with a number wondering how those who abstained on the Tory budget amendment seem to have escaped any sanction – never trust a Tory – even if you are a Tory!

My week ahead 3 - 9 March 2014

Monday – 3 March , 6pm Labour campaigning

Tuesday – 4 March, 7pm – Ipswich Fairtrade Event, Suffolk New College

Thursday – 6 March, 4pm – Health and Safety inspection, Sidegate Primary School
6pm Labour campaigning

Saturday 8 March, 10am – Labour campaigning – South West Ipswich

What a week for the Tories – both nationally and in Ipswich. In Westminster we have FOB v FOG (Friends of Boris and Friends of George) briefing against each other to start the meltdown and this weekend we have Liam Fox and a senior Tory Council leader both praising Farage and UKIP and criticising Cameron.

Not to be outdone here in Ipswich the Tories split into at least three factions – those supporting the leader on his budget amendment, those who did not support him and abstained plus a third faction of those who could not even attend in case they had to decide who to support!

Leadership? Certainly something the Tories seem to be lacking from top to bottom.

Another consequence of Tory cuts hit Suffolk this week (not that you would have known if you just followed Tory MP, Ben Gummer in the local press and on social media) the Tory Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk was meant to attend a meeting and rubber stamp the closure of the county police control room. This service would have moved to Norfolk. But what seemed a done deal soon unravelled as the local paper criticised this action and then Mr Passmore came under further pressure to stop the move from workers, the union and Labour’s David Ellesmere and Jane Basham at the meeting that should have rubber stamped the merger.

I have already publicly said that a full merger of the Norfolk and Suffolk Police may be a way ahead but what we are seeing is a merger of all services but we will still be left with two expensive PCC’s and two Chief Constables.

What was noticeable is that not one of our (Suffolk) Tory MPs has commented on the proposed merger.

It will be interesting to see what Tory Mr Passmore now does, as it seemed obvious to those who attended a recent Scrutiny meeting where Mr Passmore spoke that this was a done deal and it is also evident that both Chief Constables and the Norfolk PCC also thought no further consultation would be needed.

Ipswich Tories - a laughing stock

Not a great day for Ipswich Tories or the Tory Suffolk PCC, Mr Pass-more (services to Norfolk)

Expect the usual Ipswich 'Morning' Star shouts from local Tory blogs.

Just get rid of the minions!

It was announced today that a further 70 civilian jobs are under threat as the Suffolk and Norfolk police forces continue to advance their plans over collaboration.

80 civilian staff have already been made redundant – but what about those at the top? Their jobs seem to be safe.

One policy issue the last Labour Government did get wrong was their failure to implement the changes to the Police Force in the UK that were proposed by the former Chief Constable for the RUC, Ronnie Flanagan.

The police were against his proposals that would have seen the Suffolk Constabulary merge, who with was still to be decided. But the plan was scrapped and Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex kept their separate identities.

A year into having a Police and Crime Commissioner in charge of Suffolk policing we see further evidence that Suffolk and Norfolk Constabularies are merging in all but name. The trouble is, civilian jobs are lost as the forces work closer together, we see more joint police teams but what we still have will be two Police and Crime Commissioners with two fully recruited teams plus two Chief Constables and numerous deputies.

So this is where real savings can be made, but we see a similar story in local government (and again our Suffolk PCC is involved) we saw a merger of the council staff and offices in Mid Suffolk and Babergh but we still see two fully elected sets of councillors, with a similar story about to happen on the East Coast of Suffolk.

Will that see an improved service for Suffolk residents? Possibly so and at less cost but today we also hear accusations that democracy is shrinking in Mid Suffolk so not all has gone right there.

Like Turkeys voting for Christmas, I can’t see the PCC’s, Chief Constable's or the Police Federation agreeing to the merger of the Suffolk and Norfolk Constabularies but when Labour get into power in 2015 and look at all the different sections of the constabularies that have already merged, we then need to ask why we still have so many at the top whilst many at the bottom are losing their jobs.

My week ahead 4 - 10 November 2013

Monday - 4 November, 4pm – Culture and Leisure portfolio meeting, 6pm – Labour Group meeting

Wednesday – 6 November, 9am – Northgate Foundation Meeting
7pm – Art Show – Native American/ Lame Deer – Town Hall

Thursday 7 November, 10am –Meeting with Sport England

Sunday 10 October, 11am – Remembrance Service – Christchurch Park



As you can see above, there are plenty of meetings for myself to attend this week and it can be difficult to attend all functions whilst working full time and also finding time to spend with the family let alone find time for other activities outside politics. I am not moaning as I had an idea of what I was getting into but I mention it as whilst I was away the question about the number of councillors we have, when we have elections and even an elected Mayor came up for discussion.

For once I find myself agreeing with Tory Nadia Cenci, and I do not want to see a reduction in the number of councillors, that is not to mean I do not want to see change.

I would like to see Unitary and that then would see a reduction in the number of elected persons, but I can’t see that coming round for a while. But as money needs to be saved, it would mean more work but a reduction from 48 to 32 would be manageable but not one councillor per ward. I certainly would not be able to then continue as a councillor and work full time. We would just end up with only the rich or retired being able to become councillors.

Ipswich Spy then mentions that Los Angeles has just 15 councillors well then they must have no planning controls or licensing or if they do these tasks are carried out by un-elected officers or as i think is more likely, by elected representatives of districts within the city.

Currently I could not be a County Councillor as most of their meetings are during the day at least on the borough we have a number of evening meetings but the two most important (in the eyes of many) planning and licensing are held in the day so to help the public who need to attend these important sessions.

Ben Gummer our Tory MP, then congratulated the council on looking at the number of councillors and he favoured just one per ward but with councillors receiving more Officer help, not sure that would end up saving any money and would actually cost more, he has paid help and he still can’t get his website updated.

He was also keen on an elected Mayor – again to me it seems like more cost and would only work if it was combined with unitary status – unless of course he is looking for a future role for himself after May 2015!

The local Tory Group leader seemed to favour a reduction in councillors but also a move to elections every 4 years and not just annually, he stated that councillors could then concentrate on helping residents rather than spending all year campaigning – unless he can combine the General Election plus European, SCC, PCC and IBC elections, can’t see a reduction in time campaigning, well at least for us as it was obvious that the Tory Group did little to help Passmore in his bid to become PCC.

It does not mean I do not think there are possible occasions where the number of councillors could be reduced, in the districts where they have merged Officers it seems strange that they have kept two councils (all Tory) it could almost become impossible for the Chief Executive and the Officers to work effectively if the two councils they support were pulling in opposite directions.

So my preference for the future would be Unitary, followed if cuts need to be made a reduction to 32 councilors but continuing to have elections each year, I gather most of my case work from when I am out campaigning or after I have delivered a leaflet – elections only every 4 years could mean that certain groups would not bother doing anything till the final few months of the 4 year cycle.

My week ahead 19 - 24 November 2012

Monday 19 November, 6pm – Labour Group meeting

Thursday 22 November, 4pm – Sidegate Primary School, Finance meeting
6pm – Scrutiny meeting – looking at budget for 13/14

Saturday 24 November 10am – Labour campaigning in North East Ipswich

The main event this week was the Police and Crime Commissioner election, we knew we had the best candidate in Jane Basham and we knew we had fought the best campaign but we also knew that Suffolk was supposedly the 6th safest Tory seat in the country. But as we now know, Jane came top after the counting of the first preference votes.
So with Tim Passmore only winning after the counting of the second preference votes and the very low turnout (repeated all over the country) he seems to have little mandate to run the police in Suffolk.

More disappointing he still seems determined not to give up his council seat on Mid Suffolk District Council – and we now wait to see if he will appoint a deputy with at least one Ipswich Tory hoping to secure the (well paid) post.

In Ipswich we had a great result, securing over 50% of the vote and hardly any change was seen in the figures after the counting of the second preference votes. We now need to keep working for Ipswich residents to ensure we maintain our Labour vote and also appeal to those who feel let down by Mr Gummer and this Tory/Lib Dem Government.
The number of spoilt papers was much higher than a normal election – but spoilt may give you the wrong impression – on a General Election a spoilt paper often consists of a number of swear words or the elector showing a desire to vote for a party not standing (or in the case of the BNP, you also have the swearing) but on this election the spoilt papers often consisted of very rational thoughts and some were almost mini essays. One voter even attached a pink postit with an apology on for spoiling her paper.

Both the Tories and Lib Dems need to ask themselves why this election was so poorly supported. Failure of Lib Deems to stand, Lib Dem insistence that the election was not held last May, the Tory Government refusal to give a free posting to all candidates.
I just wonder how low the turnout would have been if Suffolk Labour had not campaigned so hard and taken our message to the every corner of the county.

We have already seen the knee jerk responses to the PCC Elections and the Corby result – The Tories are now talking about the EU and stating that the new Commissioners do have a mandate (they seem to have separate rules when it comes to Unions and strike ballots) and the Lib Dem MP’s are now looking to save their own skins/seats and stating they are against a number of Government policies- even though they voted for most of them.

So far we have had silence from the local Tories and Mr Gummer – I think if Ben wants to hold Ipswich he needs to do more than invite residents to Westminster – but even this plan seems to have been hit by inflation – last month Stoke Park residents were charged £15 to visit Parliament but my letter from Ben yesterday offered me a seat for £20 – high inflation or the extra 4 miles we have to travel? The count on Friday and the Corby result should indicate to Mr Gummer that Ipswich residents are not happy with his party. Local Tories have also been silent – no blog posts and little chat on twitter- no mention of the Bixley Polling station they ‘saved’ maybe because only 17 people used it – wonder how much per vote that cost Ipswich residents? Then again they can just blame their own Government for the whole badly organised election and stupid concept of PCC.

My week ahead 12 - 18 November 2012

Monday 12 November, 4pm - Culture portfolio meeting
6pm - Labour campaigning

Thursday 15 November – Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioners Election

Saturday 17 November, 10am – Labour campaigning in South West Ipswich

This Week we had our latest North east area Committee and I believe it was productive meeting aided by the contributions of some of our younger residents.

Today was Remembrance Sunday, and it seemed to be the largest crowd in attendance for a long time in Christchurch Park, seemed strange to have Apache helicopters fly over at 11am. The last time I had an apache helicopter fly over my head it was a lot lower, faster and it was firing from its chain gun!

Thursday we see a country wide election as have a chance to vote for the first Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner, like many in this country I think the post is not needed and is a waste of money. But the Tory Government were keen to push the role through and though the Lib Dems are not putting candidates up for some reason it was their party who was keen on a November election rat5her than waiting till next May. All this means that it is expected that Thursday will see a very low turnout. But it is important to vote the only real choice is either Jane Basham a Labour supporter but not a politician or the Tory, Mr Passmore, a farmer and a Tory politician who even if elected will stay as on as a Tory councillor in Mid Suffolk.

Jane is concerned about police staffing levels,police morale and also how victims of crime are treated. Mr Passmore seems keener on low council tax and speeding up the process for farmers to renew their shotgun licence!

So this Thursday – go out and vote and make sure that vote is for Jane Basham.